


give me the hope to run out of steam

by morzz



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-29
Packaged: 2017-12-18 08:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morzz/pseuds/morzz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Community AU] “Ah, college. The best years of our life,” Percy says, and he’s right. They are <i>such</i> a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the science of friendship

The study group only happened because Percy just wanted to get to know Annabeth. He created a fake-Spanish-study-group just to go on a date with her but everything unpieced though when Jason came and invited Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Piper to christened their group.

During their first study session – that wasn’t much a study session – they learned quite a few things. Like,  Annabeth is actually super smart, and was only worried about the Spanish test because she’s dyslexic.

We also find out that they are _all_ dyslexic! Like, _all seven of them are dyslexic!_

By the end of the night, Percy just hereby pronounces them a Community.

He kinda likes those guys.

 

* * *

 

Annabeth gives Jason money to go to this film course, because all for people wanting to learn. He ends up making a movie reboot of Star Trek. ("Wait, what do you mean there's already a Star Trek reboot?")

"Leo, you will be playing the role of Spock. He's Vulcan."

"Vulcan? I don't want to play Spock. I DON'T EVEN LIKE STAR TREK!" he stomps away, leaving Jason alone.

"Leo! I don't believe in no-win scenarios, I'm gonna have to insist!" Jason bellows, following him.

 

* * *

 

Percy and Annabeth’s first kiss is right outside the media center building. His task for his easy-A blow-off class is to simply seize the day.

He was _failing_ that class.

He owes her one.

 

* * *

 

Piper uses Leo and Jason to be her volunteers for a psychological experiment. The experiment is called the Labyrinth Theory. Volunteers are all seated in this room believing that the experiment is about to start in five minutes. But the real treat is that the waiting is the experiment, and the psychology part of it is how they react to the pressure of waiting.

Leo is the second-to-last one out. He literally crawls out out the room, sobbing. “PIPER, YOU PROMISED ME BUTT STUFF!”

Jason stays until the twenty-sixth hour.

Truth was, he was _livid_. When Piper asks him why didn't he leave, Jason responds, "Because you said we were friends and you asked me to stay."

Piper gifts him a bunch of superhero comics just cause.

 

* * *

 

Dean Chiron stops by the gang from time to time. One day he explains that Greendale’s sport team is called the Human Beings. (Because some people have been called animals their whole lives.) (Like him.) He cries about being called a half-horse when he was a child.

 

* * *

 

“I’m not a swimmer anymore, I’m locked out of my own kingdom. You’re not. You see what I’m saying?”

“You’re saying I could be a swimmer.”

“I’m saying you could be a pyrotechnician. It’s in your blood.”

“That’s racist.”

“Your soul!”

“That’s racist.”

“Your eyes?”

“That’s gay.”

“That’s homophobic.”

“That’s Latino.”

“That’s _racist_.”

“Damn.”

 

* * *

 

On Dios De La Muerte, Hazel hosts a party for their Spanish class.

Hazel’s half-brother, Nico arrives with some obscure heavy metal band shirt, a leather jacket, and bags under his eyes. He’s so creepy, he didn’t need to dress up. It’s almost like he _is_ dead.

 

* * *

 

Percy gets kicked out of his condo, and gets sad about it so Frank lets him stay at his dorm room. The kid’s nice but he has too many stuffed animals in his room. Percy doesn’t mind though, he takes the fishies to sleep in his bed.

Piper, being a little bit of a kleptomaniac, steals Percy’s faucets from his old fancy condo, and throws it at him in hopes of a better life at a new apartment.

“Aw, Pipes, you love me.”

“I beg your unbelievable pardon.”

“Look at all the things you’ve done for me!”

“I was doing this all for Frank! You are the worst.”

 

* * *

 

For just some reason, Hazel can’t say the word “penis.”

She even makes a whole speech about it.“You know what? I don’t want to say it. I don’t want to say the P-word. I like being repressed. I am totally comfortable being uncomfortable with my sexuality. And maybe, just maybe, if everyone were a little bit more like me, we wouldn’t have an STD fair!”

Good for her.

(Hazel _is_ pretty young. The group tries not to sexualize her.)

 

* * *

 

Annabeth calls bagels “baggles.” _And she says she’s lived in New York._

 

* * *

 

The group helps Leo talk to girls. Piper’s a real expert at this stuff. They try role-playing.

“What are you reading?” Leo tries a deeper voice.

“Pride and Prejudice,” Piper confides.

“So, you’re familiar with two sins. How about a third?” He takes out a box of cigarettes from his pocket.

“I don’t think we’re allowed to smoke in here,” she hesitates.

“Then, you picked the wrong outfit. Didn’t you?” He almost leans in for a kiss. But Frank cuts him off.

“Leo! Stop! What are you doing?”

“I’m doing ‘Bad Boy Leo.’ It’s copyrighted. What ‘cha think?”

Frank found it weird. Piper thought he was great. The rest didn’t care much.

 

* * *

 

“I framed Percy. I did the thing. I’m sorry, Percy.”

“But why?” Hazel asks.

“Because I’m a buzzkill. Because that’s what I do. You guys create fun, and I destroy it.

Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Cancer.

Oh good. Come in. I thought it was Annabeth."

Annabeth wails for the entire night. By the end, everyone is crying and confessing things with her. Except for Percy, who is still handcuffed to his chair, and Jason, who’s watching everyone, eating popcorn.

“Ah, _college_. The best years of our life,” Percy says, and he’s right. They are _such_ a family.

 

* * *

 

Frank’s failing psychopharmacology. He doesn’t even know why he’s taking that class. He just thought it was a class about crazy farm animals.

 

* * *

 

Annabeth and Percy are the few last ones in the paintball game. They fight shoulder to shoulder, facing the opposite direction.

During the night, due to the bursting sexual tension, they finally make-out. Right on the study room table. Afterwards, while he's just getting up, she points her gun at him. The gun's empty but Percy doesn't know that.

“Please don’t tell me you slept with me to win at paintball,” Percy groans.

“No, I slept with you, and now I’m gonna _win_ at paintball. Don’t be gross. I’m the wise one, remember?”

Before anything else is insinuated, a man in a purple toga comes in the room. Annabeth and Percy jump behind the remnants of broken desks and chairs. The man’s Octavian, he’s a little cuckoo in the head.

“Let me do this for you,” Annabeth reaches for his gun. He doesn’t bulge. She doesn’t need his permission to give her permission to “die” for him. She kisses him and he drops the gun. Predictable.

Octavian “dies.” Annabeth “dies.” Percy’s _mad_. He missed an episode of Fish Hooks for all of this.

(It’s all worth it though. Annabeth happened. He doesn’t regret that.)

 

* * *

 

It seems to Leo that everything in Greendale is ‘out of order’ – the sinks, the toilets, the drinking fountains. He seems to fix them all too. That’s talent, _bitch!_

(He’s been watching Breaking Bad with Jason too frequently.

Consequently, he doesn’t know what that show’s about.)

 

* * *

 

Weird things started happening inside the building, so Percy went out to get some air.

So, Annabeth’s in love with him. And so is Rachel Dare, apparently.

When he’s outside, he finds Hazel and Frank playing hacky-sack, which is a terrible game, but he’s happy to watch. He sits on the grass, pouring out his problems to them. “I ran away. I don’t know, it’s weird. Rachel Dare makes me feel like a new person. She paints! She’s sophisticated! She makes feel like the guy I want to be after I write my New Year’s resolutions. Annabeth makes me feel like the guy I am three weeks after New Year’s, when I’m back to eating blue junk food and calling my mom for emotional support. Do I try to evolve or do I stay the same?”

The hacky-sack hits him in his head. No answers form.

“I’m sorry, Percy,” Frank comforts him, "for hitting your head, and your situation. But you know, a little fishy once told me ‘just keep swimming.’”

“Aw, Frank. I said that. I’m that little fishy,” he pulls him in a hug. Frank’s very confused.

“That was a Finding Nemo reference, right?” Hazel asks Frank. He nods squeamishly in Percy’s hug.

“Let’s go get some ice cream, Percy,” Hazel pulls him off of Frank, who is red in the face and looking very uncomfortable.

“Will the ice cream be blue?”

“Whatever you want, buddy.”

 


	2. intermediate team-building

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the end, they all come to the conclusion that a ghost _did_ take the pen. They would rather believe that some spirit took it than to think that their group mistrusts and would blame each other for it. After all, it was always _just a pen._

For the duration of the summer, Annabeth thoroughly ignored everyone – most especially her study group at Greendale. She was trying to forget what had happened during the Tranny Dance on the last day of community college. _Go to the dance Annabeth,_ they said, _what’s more empowering than a woman in a crown._ _Go to the dance Annabeth,_ they said, _Percy will be there._

Then Rachel Elizabeth Dare came along with her three-worded-name, and jealousy got the best of her. She had said three words that never ever says to anyone. (The words weren’t Rachel Elizabeth Dare, mind you.) She told Percy that she loved him. In front of everyone. He ran away afterwards, like the little fish turd that he is.

Anyways, here they are now. Annabeth has a new group of enthusiasts who admire her for professing her love of Mr. Little Fish Turd, and Mr. Little Fish Turd is a little bit jealous because that belittles his image of the brooding young Sharknado. _Whatever that is._

That’s why in Anthropology class, Percy makes a scene by asking Annabeth out in front of everyone, vowing it will be the “greatest relationship ever known” before frenching her.

They broke up by the end of the week. It was really all just a game. Who knew?

(Everyone.)

 

* * *

 

And that’s what you missed on Community.

The study group’s back. And they’re taking Anthropology this time.

 

* * *

 

The team gets stuck in a space-mission simulator called the Argo II. Unfortunately, the only person who knows how to control it and the only person who's not in it is Leo.

In truth, the simulator was just being towed because it was parked on the handicap spaces of the Greendale parking lot. But Hazel takes control of the team and settles them into completing the simulation. After plenty of encouraging speeches all around, they complete it and Piper drives them back home to Greendale.

They are greeted as heroes – _Captain Hazel and the Argonauts._

(Get it? Argonauts/Astronauts. It’s funny.)

“Wait, isn’t it Jason and the Argonauts?” Jason pouts.

Everyone ignores him.

 

* * *

 

For Halloween, everyone is dressed as superheroes. But being superheroes doesn't really help them because the food is actually zombie infected, and everyone who eats it, becomes a zombie.

Leo and Frank figure out a way to save everyone by turning down the thermostat. When it comes down to them, Leo sacrifices himself to let Frank become the first Asian man to get it to the end. Frank starts arguing about how wrong he is before Leo tells him, “Go! Win for me. I love you.”

"Um, thanks?” Frank runs. By the end of the night, he brings down the thermostat and saves everyone. _What a hero._

 

* * *

 

The group plans on going the puppy parade before Piper screams at the study group because they’ve stolen her pen for ninth time. “It’s not a pen, it’s a _principle._ ”

“What if a ghost took the pen?” Leo suggests but nobody listens him.

Everyone argues until Annabeth’s stubbornness gets the best of her, and initiates a lockdown, whereas everyone’s backpack and clothing is dispatched completely. Carpets are destroyed, books are ripped, papers are flown, they’ve torn apart the whole room, and missed the puppy parade much to their dismay.

In the end, they all come to the conclusion that a ghost did take the pen. They would rather believe that some spirit took it than to think that their group mistrusts and would blame each other for it. After all, it was always _just a pen._

(And Buford is _just a walking table._ )

 

* * *

 

Jason’s birthday is in the summer, so they make it a custom to celebrate it in the middle of December. He’s turning twenty-one. The study group decides to go to a bar to celebrate. The kids (a.k.a. Piper, Leo, and most especially Hazel  who is three years their junior) get their own fake I.D.s from Percy because he’s the best dad and obviously the most responsible.

Piper gets caught up with being a different person for the night, and gets drunk by herself. Frank’s not comfortable drinking, and so was Hazel, so they just left. Leo meets a girl named Reyna at the bar, and is completely intimidated by her. Percy and Annabeth get drunk because they are _such great parents._ And Jason doesn’t take any drinks. He’s their designated driver because he realizes everyone has too many problems to deal with especially when they're drunk. So he takes it upon himself to drive Leo's car, and bring everyone home.

He drops Piper off first and when he walks her to her door, she reminisces.

“What a weird night, huh?”

“Yeah. Alcohol makes people sad.”

“Jason, I pretended it to be a different person tonight.”

“I do that, like, three times a week. Clark Kent, Captain Kirk, Han Solo.”

“What no. I meant I did it because... I don't know who I am. I don't know who I want to be.”

“Well, I know you _now._ You're Piper. You're a hipster unironically, and you like surfing, and some guy named E.E. Cummings. You're a fierce competitor and a sore loser. And you expect everyone to be better than who they are, and you expect yourself to be better than everyone. You're beautiful. You're cool. You've never bothered me, you never will.”

She hugs him before he leaves because that's been one of the nicest, if not the most nicest, thing anyone's ever said to her.

 

* * *

 

When Jason gets back to the car, Percy and Annabeth are making out in the backseat, while Leo is in the corner, taking notes. They stop immediately after they realize it was bad idea.

“Happy Unbirthday-Birthday, Jason.”

“Thanks.”

He’s a man now.

(Except _not really_ because he's still only twenty and his real birthday is in July but of course, no one is really there to celebrate it. And he truly doesn't understand why the guy at the front door didn't ask for his I.D. when he asked Frank and he's older than him. But yeah okay _sure,_ he's a man now.)

 

* * *

 

Every year at December ninth, Frank’s mother comes to visit him. And every year, they watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.But this year, she doesn’t come and Frank begins to question the true meaning of Christmas.

This dilemma reaches the study group when he informs everyone that they are all stop-motion animated. Then it leads to having a group therapy session in the study room with Dakota, who apparently knows a lot of psychology but is totally crazy because he has an addiction to Kool-Aid.

So everyone undergoes a “Christmas-nosis” where they all go to Winter Wonderland, and Dakota becomes the Christmas Wizard, Jason the drummer boy, Percy a Nemo figurine, Annabeth an owl, Leo a Santa’s elf, Hazel the Christmas star, and Piper a ballerina. Frank stays the same because he’s the one controlling everything.

Soon enough, they make their way to the imaginary North Pole because that’s where the true meaning of Christmas is. And like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, if you don’t be careful, you’ll perish.

Everyone thought it was unusual for Frank to go through such a weird phase because he’s never like this. He’s typically not the crazy one, but everyone has a weak point. They all attempt to help him. But everyone doesn’t always cooperate either, Dakota freezes Piper with his wand and gets taken by the Christmas pterodactyl, Jason gets eaten by humbugs, Annabeth gets lost and wisdom’s daughter walks alone, while the mark of the true meaning of Christmas burns through the silicone (that they are created in. Because it’s not _clay._ )

Dakota tries to ruin their journey and becomes the Christmas Warlock, so Hazel and Percy take care of him while Frank and Leo approach the North Pole together. When they get there, they encounter Dakota again and the whole gang appears, and brings the Christmas pterodactyl and blows his pessimism away.

Frank realizes that the true meaning of Christmas is the idea that Christmas has meaning and it can mean whatever you want. For him, it used to be being with his mom, but now it means being with the study group, because they are a _family_ after all.

They watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Frank’s dorm, until it’s dark and everybody is happy. 

 

* * *

 

Octavian’s attempts of getting in the study group has become more and more desperate. He sends them stuffed animals with severed heads and it especially creeps Frank out because he collects those.

He’s not getting in sooner or later or _at all._

 

* * *

 

Piper runs for the school president, but Percy tries out  too, and that’s not favorable for either of them.

But it’s all fun and games until someone showcases someone’s MTV’s The Real World audition tape. And you realize, friends are way too important than silly competitions, even if you just want to win.

 

* * *

 

Turns out, Percy and Annabeth have been having secret sex throughout the whole year, and Jason’s the only one who knew about it. Not because he was told, but because he’d noticed it the whole year.

After a whole agreement, everyone agrees that it’s okay that they’re hooking up. Although the two stop anyway because it was getting old.

_(I wonder how many times we’ve heard that before...)_

 

* * *

 

When the group all takes a birthing class, nobody really does anything except for Annabeth, who gets emotional while delivering a _fake_ baby because it reminds her of when she was born. She never talks about it though, so everyone’s a little bit confused as to why she’s like that when it comes to babies or mothers.

 

* * *

 

Paintball 2.0 is as brutal as any other. Like most wars, it started off way deeper than just the conflict on hand. One second, Greendale’s just having their end-of-the-year picnic _(western themed!)_ , and the next, their ice cream sponsor is sponsoring a paintball assassin game, and _oh my god haven’t they done this before why the continuation we all know you can’t repeat storylines._

The seven stick together subconsciously, like always. Hazel hosts an underground fort where everyone is safe and no guns are allowed. That’s where the team rests and replenish their ammo. The rest split up into two groups of three.

While Percy, Annabeth, and Frank seek out Dean Chiron for the ammo he presumably hid from last year’s game, Jason, Piper, and Leo encounter a black rider. She’s beautiful. She’s powerful. She’s so... _familiar._ And she’s tried to kill them at least three times already.

The team makes their way to Hazel’s fort one last time before they realize the place has been wiped out by the black rider. At least Hazel wasn’t shot because when the black rider _does_ appear, Hazel fakes a heart attack to try and trick her, and it works.

“Hey, I know you now,” Leo says when she’s about to leave, “You’re Reyna. I met you at a bar a few months ago. Do you– do you even go here?”

“No. I would never go to this school. This sucks.”

“Then, why are you here?”

“I dunno. I work alone, cowboy. Someone said there was a paintball game with a hundred thousand dollar cash prize, I wanted to play.”

“Wait– do you work for the ice cream company?”

“Oh no, I just heard the announcement. I literally live two blocks away from the campus.”

“Oh,” Leo sounds disappointed. “Can I see you sometime?”

“I’ll think about it, cowboy.” She leaves, with a masking scent of ambiguity and Leo doesn’t know what to do with himself anymore.

 

* * *

 

Paintball is still going strong the next day. Jason proposes that it’s theme is not western anymore, but Star Wars, just because he wants to call dibs on Han Solo. He also proposes that whoever wins this game has to donate the money to Greendale as it has been destroyed, but quickly denies it because Han Solo only works for himself.

When they find out that Kronos is actually the ice cream sponsor, and sent his little monsters to their school, everyone brings hell, just like they wanted.

“Welcome to Greendale. You’re already dead.”

 

* * *

 

There are two parts to their plan: the first being Leo luring all the monsters into the library, and rigging the water system so paint can sprinkle onto all of them; the second being Percy annihilating the monsters outside.

The plan starts off elegantly, until it starts to deteriorate. The air vent in the study room gets blocked when Mrs. O’Leary the dog tries to sneak out and gets stuck, leaving Leo’s team– Jason, Piper and himself to sacrifice themselves to the paint god. The alarm is pulled by Frank, and they pray that he may get to safety.

Orange paint rains on them, and Jason and Piper even get ahead of themselves because they kiss throughout the whole procedure with weird talks of scruffy-looking scoundrels, and Leo assumes they’re talking about Star Wars but he isn’t that sure because he’s never watched it.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Percy’s attack is just as sacrificing as Leo’s and he gets shot along with the rest of his troops. And there was Annabeth left.

At this point, the entire school was depending on Annabeth and it seem like a large responsibility if she was gonna walk alone. But luckily, Frank’s still alive and he steals a golf cart and massacres the whole town. They eventually slay everyone and when they think they’ve won, some bastard shoots them in their backs. Two monsters come out of the bushes, untouched by the paint, and start to celebrate their win.

But then again, Kronos keeps underestimating Greendale because Hazel comes out of the bushes behind the bushes, and kills them.

It was another win for Greendale and Hazel is still their hero.

“I win!” She points at Kronos. “And you owe a hundred thousand dollars! Make the check out to Greendale.”

 

* * *

 

The study group celebrates their victory at Denny’s. They go right after the game, still dressed in their paintball worn clothes. It was a good game. They came, they saw, they conquered. And now, they’re gonna eat a big lunch, and go home because that shit’s tiring. For real.

 


	3. introduction to finality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They’re _fine._ They’re a community. They’re a family. They’re friends.

First order of business: they are all going to be _fine_ this year. They are gonna be calm and normal, and they are going to have fun and be less weird, and they’re going to be all fine.

Second order of business: they’re all taking biology this time. Yay for life and living, right!

 

* * *

 

To bat off the year, Octavian becomes the new security guard at the school, and Annabeth is as reckless as ever. She’s kicking garbage cans, and eating warning issues, all because she wants to “RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE!” (Her words.)

The other six helps Piper beat Drew Tanaka at her game of Model United Nations Battle Royale. When their team slightly falls apart due to the lack of fresh air (because someone anonymous farted and Percy makes a joke about it), Piper gives a public nervous breakdown. “I– WANT– TO– WIN–” she jumps up and down while crying. “And you–” she points at Drew, “you are stupid and I am _better_ than you.” She leaves like antsy little child on her 10th birthday.

Percy comes to look for her and comforts her with a speech, because that’s what he’s good at. “No matter how childish we all can be, you have to grow up sooner or later. The world needs more women like you, Pipes. You’re a driven, self-possessed, mature young woman. You can’t be like this forever.”

“But can we still go skateboarding every weekend?” she sulks.

“Yeah, of course. It’s not like old habits die easily. Take your time, kiddo.”

 

* * *

 

“Bienvenidos a la casa de Lason!” Jason and Leo host a welcoming party to their new apartment, and it’s really nice. They have mahogany bunk beds. They play Yahtzee too, but Leo doesn’t really _know_ how to play it, therefore they don’t really play it.

What _does_ happen is that their buzzer rings, and someone has to manually get the door downstairs. Percy rolls the dice to see who’ll be going down, and six timelines differentiate.

In the timeline where Leo gets the pizza, everything falls apart. Piper has a gun and it accidentally sets off on Percy’s knee. Alcohol is spilled on the floor, and the stove burns because of Hazel’s pies. Frank tries to put out the fire, and Jason runs around freaking out. When Leo comes back with the pizza, he sees a dusty, earthy spirit in the midst of the fire, and tries to kill it for some apparent reason. But in reality, there was only a globe, no spirit whatsoever. Pretty delusional, huh.

In the _real_ timeline, Jason figures out the Percy has been devising system in which he will never get the pizza because there are six sides to a die and seven of them. So they let Percy get the pizza. While he’s gone, they dance to Roxanne by Sting and everything is alright.

 

* * *

 

Hazel tells the weirdest, creepiest ghost stories at Halloween. They’re always so graphic and gory.

Where does she get these things?

 

* * *

 

Leo gets recruited by the plumbing school and the air-conditioning school. When he rejects either, the air-conditioning school sets out to get him. His talent for fixing things comes once in a lifetime, and they wouldn’t like to waste it.

 

* * *

 

Piper finally moves out of her crappy apartment and moves in with Jason and Leo. They live-tweet the whole move: #PipersMove. But when she gets there, she realizes her room is only a blanket-fort made in the living room, because the other two can’t afford to lose their other room-turned-Dreamatorium. Which is just stupid behavior because what kind of friends have two bedrooms, and wouldn’t let one you use one.

So Jason and Leo come to the conclusion that they’ll give up their _own_ bedroom for Piper to use and sleep in the fort instead because they want their Piper and she’s worth more than any bedroom.

(The Dreamatorium stays because it’s more important than all of them.)

They have story-telling/puppet-making sessions in the fort every weekend.

 

* * *

 

People have started using Frank’s name to mean a small mistake. “Oh no, he Frank’d it.”

It’s sad and that’s bullying.

 

* * *

 

Hazel is insanely good at foosball. She teaches Percy because he needs a hobby and she has all this rage. “You either get killed or be killed.” Percy doesn’t know whether to be scared of her or admire her. She tells him that her old friend Sammy taught her everything she knows.

 

* * *

 

Jason gets the special edition Man Of Steel DVD with a personalized autograph by Henry Cavill – _Jason is Superman now._ But Piper accidently breaks the disc when she steps on it, and stages a break-in in the apartment. Jason mourns in his Superman costume for days, only pretending to be Superman or Clark Kent. When Piper couldn’t take it anymore, she confesses to Jason that she broke the DVD, and nobody stole it. While in costume, he takes her apology, saying it’s okay because Superman would’ve forgiven her since he’s everybody’s friend.

But Jason might not.

 

* * *

 

Percy and Annabeth get drunk one time and almost get married. They’re just so emotional about marriage because they both have absent parents.

I mean, _what’s_ new?

 

* * *

 

First, Percy and Jason thought to make a pillow fort on campus. Then, Percy decided to not make a pillow fort and make a blanket fort instead. The Battle of Greendale And Friendship ensues.

 

> _“Two households (Poseidonis and Jupitown), both alike in crappy names_
> 
> _In fair Greendale, where we lay our scene_
> 
> _From ancient grudge break to new mutiny_
> 
> _Where civil blood makes civil hands filled with pillow feathers._
> 
> _–Shakespeare”_
> 
> _–Piper Mclean, writer by choice, romantic by birth._

 

In the end, Percy and Jason air it out. Their budding bromance is too important than some lousy fort.

 

* * *

 

The girl Reyna comes back to Greendale, and this time as a sandwich shop owner at the cafeteria. Yup, she owns the new Subway, except nobody still knows anything about her. She doesn’t even seem to have a last name. Leo attempts to flirt with her, and evidently, it works. They make-out in Percy and Jason’s pillow fort because, and to quote Orwell’s 1984, _the smell of her hair, the taste of her mouth, the feeling of her skin seemed to have got inside him, or into the air all round him. She had become a physical necessity._

After that, he never saw her again.

The Subway shop closed weeks later.

 

* * *

 

Frank’s father designed an eight-player video game, in which everyone is virtually turned into an avatar that looks just like themselves. But since Frank only has six friends, Clarisse La Rue, his father’s assistant-of-sorts, plays the eighth player.

The objective of the game was to get the white crystal and venture to the War Castle.

At one point, Frank loses self-esteem and digs himself in a hole to suffocate in. (You can do this in the game!) Annabeth reopens the hole and lightens him up. After all, _and this is a secret,_ he’s her favorite. Instead of hugging him, she punches him instead and kills him accidently because there is _no_ hug button.

In the village, Hazel and Piper kill the blacksmith and his wife and they burn their whole store and steal all their weapons. Meanwhile, Leo once again meets a dark-haired woman coincidentally named Reyna, and he takes that as a sign that it must destiny. Instead of playing the rest of the game with everyone, he stays with her in the village and literally makes a million babies and castles.

Hazel leads everyone to the crystal and we find out that Clarisse have spent the whole game not helping Frank and helping herself instead, because she also wants the crystal. You see, Clarisse’s dad is actually also Frank’s dad and they’re actually half-siblings, and that’s super weird because she’s seriously competitive, and Frank’s not like that. And Frank might only like his dad sometimes but he knows that Clarisse is more devoted to him more than he ever was, so he turns the objective of the game to help Clarisse instead.

With the help of the millions of babies Leo has consummated and raised with Reyna, they build a little baby army for Clarisse and with that, they beat the challenge and get to the War Castle.

It was a good day of friendship and newly-found family. And that’s what they’re all about, _really._

 

* * *

 

The Greendale Seven causes a riot in the cafeteria and _Everything is Awful Oh God Do Something._ Don’t ask how it happen. Trouble’s bound to find them.

The school-board expels them, and even if they are still in the four stages of grief, they become closer to each other. “Things are bad but we’re together. That makes us the perfect timeline.”

 

* * *

 

They all spend their summer at Casa de Lasper because there’s nothing to do. They all go to a psychiatrist though, and instead of getting diagnosed of being insane, turns out the psychiatrist was sent by Octavian, who is the truly insane one.

They also find out that Octavian kidnapped Dean Chiron, and replaced him with Dean-alike – which is why they get expelled. The real Dean loved them, he wouldn’t have gotten them expelled in the first place. It was only right that Octavian was behind this.

 

* * *

 

(Leo hacked into the Frank’s dad’s game and got Reyna’s character code. “Reyna, my love, I said I’d always come back for you.”

They now live virtually with their Leyna babies in their Leyna castles and Leyna Subway shops in 8-bit.) 

 

* * *

 

Octavian throws his birthday party on campus, and the seven plan an elaborate heist to infiltrate the place. Although to get inside, Leo gives in and sacrifices himself to the air conditioning school, because the air-conditioning school has eyes where there is air, and that is everywhere.

They get the Dean, who’s been living in the central heating room in the basement, and bring down Octavian because he is just _insane._

 

* * *

 

The air-conditioning school all have an epiphany that Leo Valdez is the truest repairman who _repair man._

Leo Valdez has an epiphany that the air-conditioning school is crazy-town-banana-pants.

He drops out, and the school’s fine with that. Because he’s their messiah and he can do anything he likes.

 

* * *

 

The thing about the group is that they’re all really _fine._ No matter how many crazy shenanigans they all go through, they were all subconsciously sane in the first place. They love each other. They’re a study group – (that never really studies, but a study group nevertheless).

(I mean, when have they ever actually studied in this text?

Never.)

They all sit at their respective spots at study table in the library, from right to left: Piper, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Jason, Annabeth, and Percy, and reminisce about their year.

“Hey, we didn’t have a paintball game this year,” Frank notes. “That’s good.”

“Yeah, and Leo fell in love,” Piper chided.

“I’m gonna look for her, you know that, right? I’m gonna find Reyna, and we’ll eat fresh forever,” Leo announces. No one is doubting him, he’ll probably do it.

“So any plans for the rest of the summer?” Hazel asks. “I think I’m gonna start horseback riding again.”

“Aw, good for you, Hazel,” Annabeth drawls. “ _I’m_ going to continue my journey as an architect major, and go touristing to cities, and study their buildings for the remainder of my summer. Would anyone like to come with me?”

Percy takes the offer. It’s not like he’s actually gonna do anything this summer besides swim.

“We should build houses together,” Leo pitches to Annabeth, and she smiles at that. _They should._

“Well, Piper, Leo, and I are gonna stay in the apartment and  watch movies and render imaginative dreamscapes in the Dreamatorium.” Jason answered for all three of them. But he’s not entirely right.

“Uh no, I’m going to Hollywood to visit my dad. He has a new fi–”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“...Because– uh– I was going to surprise you. I knew how much it would mean to you.” Piper covers up, and it’ll be exciting for her father to meet Jason. That would be really nice.

“So since everyone has plans now, what are you doing this summer, Frank?” Percy turns to him.

“I’m going to Canada to visit family.” He replies sullenly, and he’s already expecting it.

“ _Canada,_ Frank?” Leo condescends. _Here we go._ “Seriously, worst place ever. Why do you have ruin the mood? You Frank’d it.”

“You guys are still saying that?” he scowls. “Ugh, you guys are _the worst._ ”

 

* * *

 

Yeah, they _are_ the worst. But they’re also the best.

See? They’re _fine._ They’re a community. They’re a family. They’re friends.

 


End file.
